


Glimpses of Things Unseen

by greenTeacup



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Fourth Wall, Gen, Metafiction, Ruff Bois 'Verse (Implicitly)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenTeacup/pseuds/greenTeacup
Summary: [SCENE 1: The Forks High School set, EXT, day. Extras in mid-2000's costume mill around the lot. A thin veneer of faux black ice coats the ground. A fog machine is bellowing full blast.]Or:Several interviews with a very famous cast.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Jacob Black/Bella Swan, Jacob Black/Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Kudos: 7





	Glimpses of Things Unseen

**Author's Note:**

> With obvious inspiration from [Backstage](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7767442) by quartile.

INTERVIEW 1: CS

**Interviewer** : Mr. Swan, Charles — can I call you Charlie?

**CS** : Oh, sure. Everyone does.

**Int**.: You're one of the most consistent characters in the retinue, if I may say so.

**CS** : Well, thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.

**Int.:** Your interpretation of the character really shines through in each role.

**CS:** I appreciate that, I appreciate it. But I don't know.

**Int**.: You're dissatisfied with your performance?

**CS** : Oh, no, I'm proud of it. I just mean, it's not hard work. I show up, I sit on the couch, I crack a few jokes, watch some baseball... but for the most part, it's not hard work. 

**Int**.: Do you ever feel a desire for larger parts? Say, a starring role?

**CS:** Who are you, my agent?

**Int.:** [Laughing] No, I just was curious—

**CS:** [Imitating a phone call.] Yeah, yeah, Lester, I know they're casting a new lead on _Gilmore Girls—_

**Int.:** I was serious! All this time as Dad, you never wanted a slice of action for yourself?

**CS:** Maybe when I was about ten years younger. [Chuckle.] I mean, listen, I'm pushing fifty most of the time, and I look over and I see — I see on Lot Five, they've got poor Bells doing cliff diving and, and hunting down cougars with her bare hands, or whatever, and don't even get me started on all the animal stunts that poor Jake's got stuck with, — I see that and think, I couldn't do that. No. I'm not built for it, I'd keel over. Maybe if I was ten years younger...then again, no. Let the heartthrobs handle that, I say!

**Int.:** There are some fans out there that consider you a heartthrob yourself.

**CS** : [Shy.] Aw, God bless 'em. Yeah, I do remember a couple of scripts that had me in, uh... compromising situations? You know, oneshots, kink challenges, that kind of stuff. And it does feel nice, I'll give 'em that. It's nice to feel like you still "got it" at fifty... But most of the time, the story isn't about me. And that's how it should be, in my opinion. Frankly.

**Int.:** How do you mean?

**CS:** Hmm, well. The way I see it, Charlie at his core, he's, he's this normal, average, maybe kind of mediocre dad, and that's really what's important about him, you know? He's this grounding force in her life. He represents humanity. And the thing is, is, for Bella, humanity is this very _boring,_ uh, very _dull_ sort of state that she wants to escape, you know — this metaphor for high school, if you want to read into it — and so Charlie comes across as that. But, he's also the important parts of humanity that she needs to keep: the compassion, the familial ties, the responsibility to your community. All those things. And those things are not interesting, they're not sexy, but I think they're important. And without Charlie, she is totally disconnected. She has no reason to stay in Forks, she has no reason to stay human, and then there's no conflict. So my role is small, but I do feel that, as a character, he belongs in that position, in the story.

**Int.:** You've clearly put a lot of thought into your character.

**CS** : Yeah, well, I've got plenty of time on my hands. I've spent fifteen years watching the same three or four baseball games, you know? [Laughs.] ****

* * *

_[SCENE 1:_ The Forks High School set, EXT, day. Extras are milling around, being staged at various cars. A thin veneer of faux black ice coats the ground. A fog machine is bellowing full blast. 

MANAGER: Okay, everybody, final call on Lot Seven for Scene Five.

[In the corner of the shot, EC is sharing a joint with JB. As the final call sounds, JB drops it and grinds it out with his foot. They slap each other on the back and cross to different sides of the lot.]

* * *

INTERVIEW 2: JS

**Int.** : Your character notably harbors some resentment towards Ms. Swan. Do you find that any of that carries over?

**JS:** No, not really.

**Int.** : Are you friends?

**JS:** Sure. Work friends, though; admittedly, I don't know her that well. We don't really share a lot of scenes, and of course, she's kept gruelingly busy, so.

**Int.:** [Slightly disbelieving.] Aside from the first third of the Novel, of course.

**JS:** I mean, in that we're in the same camera shot, yes. But you'll note that in a lot of those scenes, the real focus is on her interactions with Edward, or Mike, or even Angela. So we don't really have a rapport. Oh! There was this short oneshot a while back where _she_ was the vampire and I was her girlfriend, that was cute. We had a lot of fun that day, she was absolutely lovely. I think she enjoyed getting to play the dom in the relationship, for once. And I was so pleased to actually be a romantic lead that I was having the time of my life! But we haven't really had the chance to reconnect since.

**Int.** : You're most commonly featured with Mr. Newton, is that correct?

**JS:** Mike, yeah. Oh my God, he's great. 

**Int.:** Really?

**JS:** Nothing like his character. Yeah. We're best pals, we go out for drinks every Friday after the wrap. He's really into math, did you know that? He got a degree in it at Puget Sound. _Crazy_ smart. Crazy. I remember he once tried to explain string theory to Emmett, fried the poor guy's brain.

**Int.:** There's been a recent resurgence in appreciation for your characters — yours, admittedly more than his — due to the self-titled Renaissance. Do you feel that this is a long time coming, or that this is a course-correction from earlier misinterpretations?

**JS:** Well, that's a hard one. In the text, I am — and I say this un-self consciously — something of a bitch. I'm quite judgmental, somewhat petty, clearly self-obsessed. I'm written so you don't like me. I'm supposed to make Bella look good. So, in my mind, the problem was not that people disliked me, because the text obviously wanted them to! The problem was that the qualities people disliked me for were (a) things that Bella is herself, also, at times, and (b) mostly typical of a teenage girl. So this movement to embrace my character, as I see it, is less of a backlash against injustice, and more of a... more mature way of reading and interpreting the text? Because, like, people are starting to realize that Bella is not an objective narrator, so, the way she sees Jessica is not the only way to see Jessica. And also, people are starting to understand that, yes, Jess is kind of an asshole, but also, she's sixteen, and Edward breaks into a seventeen-year-old's bedroom to watch her sleep, so, you know, maybe she's allowed to be a little bit judgy sometimes.

**Int.:** You sound like you don't approve.

**JS:** Of Edward? Oh, he's fine. I've never had a scene with him, but he seems perfectly nice. And like, we've all been over the "watching you sleep" thing, it's a dead horse at this point. And the writers have mostly stopped — I don't think he's had to do that in a shoot since... I mean, maybe since The Novel itself.

* * *

_[SCENE 2:_ Forest, EXT, day. EmC stands at STAGE LEFT, getting his face powdered by a makeup artist; JB lies on the ground, holding an icepack to his eye. The director scurries over and murmurs something to EmC.]

**EmC** : Okay, well, I liked that take, but if you want to do it again...?

**Dir**.: [Indistinct murmuring.]

**EmC** : Well, I know the script doesn't call for it, but—

**Dir**.: [More intent murmuring.]

**EmC:** No? Really? Got it, got it, okay. Good note. Hey, Jake, you hear that? One more go 'gain!

**JB** : [Deep, soulful sigh. He is hauled off the ground by EmC.]

**Dir:** All right, everybody! Places, please!

[An assistant snaps the clapperboard in front of the camera: RUFF BOIS: ROLL 5. SCENE 2. TAKE 14.]

* * *

INTERVIEW 3: LC & EC

**LC** : The elephant is always in the room. Of course it is. But we do what we can, and there's consultants, and the scripts that we get nowadays are, at least, better than they used to be.

**EY** : Yes. I was very afraid, when the Renaissance started, that it meant—

**LC** : I mean, you can imagine, right? We were just, like—

**EY** : "Oh, God, we just got done with this shit." Now we're back to, what? "Disfigured Native woman to Lot One," again? Two minutes of screen time before some white girl cuts in to bastardize our culture?

**LC** : Or start listing a ton of offensive synonyms for "brown"?

**EY** : [Laughing.] Right. Oh, God, the _stage_ directions I've had to read — it really is, like, "His coppery, russet, chocolately, mocha-latte skin gleamed Indianly in the sun." Eugh.

**LC** : Or when she talks about how big he is?

**EY** : Right. Right. Poor Jake, we had him in heeled shoes and a padded vest for every other scene. No, it was bad.

**LC** : It still _is_ bad, a lot of the time.

**EY** : Yeah, true. I mean, it's not like "oh, we fixed it, we know, everything is good now." It's still there in the texts. And it's still there among the other writers, too, even unconsciously, sometimes. 

**LC** : Yes. Part of it is, it's so intrinsically connected to the story and the world-building mechanics.

**EY** : Mm-hm. Some of it, you can do away with, like the racist imagery, for instance, or the origin of my scars, which you can change. Minor things. But what do you do about the very premise of having this group of Native boys turn into giant _dogs_ when they get angry? Like, what the fuck are we supposed to do with that?

**LC** : I don't know that you can redeem it, really.

**EY** : No... but I also don't like the other way it sometimes goes, which is just not to write about any of the Quileute characters. I mean, _you_ , for instance. You're great! The only female shifter? This hardcore badass with a troubled past?

**LC** : But you, though! You're criminally under-explored. You could have such an interesting dynamic with everyone, or even, you could set up how the imprint system works on the other side. And our relationship — I don't think we have one conversation together, _one—_

**EY:** Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's because we're too powerful. 

**LC:** [Laughs.] Yes.

**EY:** If they let us have a scene together, we'd have solved the whole plot in thirty pages. "How old is he? A hundred and ten? And she is...? Oh, cool, me and my cousin the _werewolf_ are gonna go make _ice cubes_ out of this motherfucker, see you all later—"

**LC:** [Cackling.] _Yes!_

**EY** : Or, you know, we could just chill together sometimes. Like, is the audience expected to believe that [counting fingers] we both live in La Push, we're cousins, we went to school together, our friends are friends, our _families_ are friends, and what, we just never talk to each other? I get the thing with Sam is awkward, but you're telling me this boy is the reason we don't talk at all? Like, at _all?_

**LC** : Yeah. At the very least, we could've had a reconciliation.

**EY:** At least.

**Int.:** [After a pause.] If you could choose just one change to make to the text, what would it be?

**EY:** Just one?

**LC:** Hmm. One each?

**Int.:** One each, sure.

**EY:** [Immediately] I want a gun.

**LC:** [Bursts out laughing.] What! We were just talking about all the important narrative stuff, the representation—

**EY:** You fix that with your change! I'm getting a Glock.

**LC:** You're totally absurd.

**EY:** No, it makes perfect sense. You get to be a werewolf, I want a gun. Oh, and a personality, I guess.

* * *

INTERVIEW 4: JB & EC

**JB** : At this point, I feel like I almost know him better than anyone. Even Bells.

**EC** : Yes, I feel the same.

**JB** : Of course, she and I are very close, a very close friend. But Ed and I, I think we have the kind of dynamic that really highlights each other's character. We're not always at our best when we're doing a scene together, but it's like, real. It brings out our differences. I dunno, I enjoy it.

**EC** : Mm-hm. The contrast is illuminative.

**JB** : Jesus, you're pretentious.

**EC** : [Amused.] Surprised?

**Int.** : Your rivalry has become, and I say this without irony, iconic. Do you have any reflections on the dynamic that's developed between you over the years?

**EC** : One thing that continually amuses me is the degree to which people presuppose some degree of enmity between us. It's a compliment to our acting, I suppose, but nevertheless bemusing. I find Jacob entirely delightful, personally.

**JB:** I wouldn't use the phrase "genuinely delightful," but. Yeah. He's all right.

**EC:** [Aside, to the interviewer.] High praise.

**JB** : We really got to know each other in the later stuff, when we interacted a lot more than we did in the original, older scripts. Before, say... 2012, I think? We barely saw each other unless it was a fight scene.

**EC:** Yes. Quite a few of them involved you shirtless, as I recall. 

**JB** : [Grinning.] Yeah, well. You can't fault them for taste, can you?

**EC:** You needn't take quite so much satisfaction in it.

**JB:** Hey, listen, I was all for equality. I told them, "You gotta give Ed an ass shot, for parity," but they just didn't trust you to pull it off. The _injustice_ in this industry, I swear.

**EC:** Jacob **—**

**JB:** Me and Bells, we were devastated. Devastated, I tell you.

**Int.:** Do you ever find that those scenes are a source of awkwardness? With so many people watching?

**JB:** Well, it's a matter of trust, obviously. You have to trust your director and your partners in the scene to show it in such a way that it's not, you know, _too_ creepy, or objectifying — the main thing is to be like, appreciative without being dehumanizing. Sometimes somebody oversteps, it happens, it sucks, but I've worked with basically everybody here, Ed's worked with everyone _twice,_ and we're professionals, so it's usually okay. 

**Int.:** Everyone, including...?

**EC:** [Sly.] Well, naturally. It's the twenty-first century, and he's spent the past fifteen years running around shirtless in the woods. Aren't I allowed some fun, too?

**Int.** : Oh!

**JB:** Shut up, you're gonna give the poor kid _ideas._

**EC:** Have you read the scripts? They've already got ideas. [His phone buzzes.] She wants to know if we'll be out soon. She's finished her scene with Rosalie and she wants to get lunch.

**JB:** Yeah, I could eat. Where?

**EC:** Thai?

**JB:** Sure. [To interviewer.] Sorry to bolt, but we've got a mafia AU and a foursome after lunch. Gotta keep that blood sugar up.

**EC:** [Hiding a smile.] Indeed. Thank you for your time.

_[Exit JB & EC.]_


End file.
